SEATTLE -- How do you get pedestrians to pay attention and keep drivers from 'blocking the box'?
"It's a challenge at times, I would say," said SDOT Traffic Safety Coordinator Jim Curtin.
For example, 4th Avenue and Spring Street is one of seven intersections where right turn on red is no go.
"By eliminating the turn on red here we add a level of predictability to the intersection," Curtin said.
SDOT has also re-timed 300 traffic signals downtown.
Traffic and pedestrian safety is a growing problem in downtown Seattle. So the Seattle Department of Transportation started targeting specific intersections to enhance safety.
On Thursday, SDOT and the Downtown Seattle Association offered a walking tour to highlight problem intersections and solutions to help fix them.
Downtown Seattle has seen more 6,500 crashes in the last three years. More than 600 of them involve pedestrians. And the clear majority of them happen at intersections.
At 6th and Pine, more pedestrians pass through the intersection than vehicles, so SDOT gave drivers a protected right turn to help get cars through the intersection safely.
The work is part of the Vision Zero program, an international campaign to reduce traffic deaths to zero by 2030.
The goal is to teach everyone who lives or works downtown, they have a vested interest in making it safer.
If you have a traffic problem that needs SDOT's attention, call (206) 684-ROAD.
